Railway cross-tie.



PATENTED JULY 14, 1908.

J. B. KENNEY. RAILWAYUROSS TIE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 26, 1907.

Ill I ll'll WITNESSES:

JOSEPH B. KENNEY, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

RAILWAY GROSS-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 26, 1907. Serial No. 408,025.

Patented July 14, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH B. KENNEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in RailwayCross-Ties, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in cross-ties for supporting therails of railways.

It consists in the employment of inclosing clamping plates whereby thelife of the tie is preserved, and in details of construction which willbe more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is anend view.

The increasing weight of locomotives and trains upon railways acts tocrush and destroy the supporting wooden ties in a short time; and it isthe object of my invention to provide a means for reinforcing the ties,and prevent such destruction.

The ties A are of any usual shape and size.

2 is an angle-plate having upturned flanges as shown, thus forming ashallow, channelplate. The bottom of the tie is fitted snugly into thischannel-plate, and is bolted or otherwise secured from end to end.

Upon the top of the tie are fitted corre sponding channel-plates 3.These plates extend from the end of the tie to a point near the centerwhere they cease, leaving a portion of the tie uncovered. The object ofthis is to prevent short-circuiting of electric currents which arepassed through the rails where block si nal systems are used, especiallyin the rai road yards; but this insulation may also take place at anypoint or points along the line of the road. These top plates have holespunched in them at a suitable distance apart as shown at 4; to receivethe spikes by which the rails 5 are secured to the ties. Two of theseholes may be employed to secure a rail to each tie and passing throughthe plates into the wooden interior of the tie, will be suflicient forthe purpose.

With constant use and wear, the head of a rail becomes eventually wornon the inside so that there is too much side lay between the flanges ofthe wheels. It is then desirable to set the rails a little nearertogether so as to maintain the proper gage and distance between them,and to com ensate for the wear of the inner flanges o the rails. Inorder to effect this I form a second set of holes 6. These holes arepunched through the late a little nearer to .the center of the tie t anthe holes 4, so that when the spikes have been drawn the rails may beset nearer together to compensate for the wear of the inner flanges, andthe spikes being driven through the new holes Wlll lock the rails inplace and give them an extension of service.

The constant pounding of the rails upon ordinary wooden ties eventuallycuts channels and allows the rails to sink into the channels to such anextent that otherewise good ties must be thrown out and new onessubstituted. By my construction I am enabled to economize and use theseworn ties as follows: Two ties may be cut ofl at such points that theworn places may be shifted away from the line of the rails, and the twoties thus cut may be abutted at an intermediate point, and then boltedto the metal inclosing plates herein described, which will hold themfirmly, and ractically form a new tie, and when thus indlosed thesewhole ties thus renewed will last an indefinite time. The sunkenportions of the ties being moved out of the line of the rails, theplates will not be indented or distorted as they would otherwise be ifthe old ties were used in their damaged condition.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is Wooden railway ties having troughshaped plates ofsubstantially the ength of a tie, secured to the bottom thereof, similarplates secured to the top of the tie, said lates having dia onallydisposed boltoles for securing ra' way rails to the tie, and another setof bolt-holes disposed nearer to the center line of the tie whereby therails may be adjusted to com ensate for wear.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH B. KENNEY.

Witnesses:

DAVID REESE, GEO. B. GRAY.

